Parsec: Age of Colonies Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Contents of the Game
  • 1.1 Four-player game set
• 2. Object of the Game
• 3. Victory Conditions
  • 3.1 Military victory
  • 3.2 Economic victory
• 4. Characteristics and Costs of the Units
  • 4.1 Small ships
  • 4.2 Large ships
  • 4.3 The colony (civilian unit)
  • 4.4 Positioning
• 5. Setup
  • 5.1 Phase one
  • 5.2 Phase two
• 6. The Cards
  • 6.1 Faction cards
  • 6.2 Event cards
  • 6.3 Resource cards
• 7. Colonization of the Galaxy
  • 7.1 Settlement
  • 7.2 Expansion
• 8. How to Earn Resources
  • Recovering resources in battles between units
  • 8.1 Planet structure
  • 8.2 Asteroids
• 9. Exchange of Resources
  • 9.1 Exchange between players
  • 9.2 Exchange with the Space Port
• 10. Actions and Movement of Ships
• 11. Arms Race
• 12. Combat
  • 12.1 Attack/defence
  • 12.2 Counter-attack or evasive manoeuvre
  • 12.3 Long-range attack
  • 12.4 Coordinated attack
  • 12.5 Evasive manoeuvres of several ships in a clash
  • 12.6 Attack with allied support
  • 12.7 End of the combat phase
• 13. Elimination of a Player
• 14. Variants of the Game
  • 14.1 Timed variant
  • 14.2 Alliance variant
  • 14.3 Absolute victory variant
  • 14.4 Factionless variant
  • 14.5 Simplified combat variant
  • 14.6 Further game variants

1. Contents of the Game

1.1 Four-player game set

The game contains:

• Modular board made of 1 Space Port module and 11 Planet and Asteroid modules.
• 8 Faction cards.
• 70 Event cards.
• 120 Resource cards, divided into 40 Titanium cards, 40 Gold cards and 40 Energy cards.
• 4 Technical sheets showing the production costs and the specifications of the various units.
• 4 sets of units, each in a different colour, each consisting of 10 colonies, 10 cargo ships, 10 fighters, 8 armoured transports and 8 cruisers.
• 4 eight-sided dice of different colours.
• 8 Event tokens.

2. Object of the Game

In Parsec - Age of Colonies®, in command of one of the Factions fighting for supremacy over the galaxy, you must fight your opponents to accumulate wealth and military power and thus become the absolute rulers of the known universe.

To reach this goal, each player must expand across the galaxy and build colonies, different types of ships and acquire Event cards in order to pursue various strategies through unconventional manoeuvres.

To do this it is necessary to accumulate resources, obtainable by colonizing planets and occupying asteroids, but also by attacking and destroying the units of other players.

3. Victory Conditions

3.1 Military victory

The player who, during his own turn, first gains strategic control of at least half of the adjacent modules that make up the game board wins the game.

• In a 2-player game: 3 modules (out of 6).
• In a 3- or 4-player game: 6 modules (out of 12).

A player gains strategic control of a board module when he is the only one to have at least one military ship on it. The presence of opposing cargo ships or colonies is not relevant, as they are non-military units.

3.2 Economic victory

The player who, during his own turn, first comes to possess the following number of colonies and Resource cards wins the game:

• In a 2-player game: 5 colonies and 4 cards of each resource type (Titanium, Gold and Energy, for a total of at least 12 cards).
• In a 3- or 4-player game: 10 colonies and 6 cards of each resource type (Titanium, Gold and Energy, for a total of at least 18 cards).

4. Characteristics and Costs of the Units

Each ship has a set of characteristics (described below) that determine the length of its movement, the effectiveness of its attack and defence, and the range of its fire.

Each ship produced must initially be placed on the same hex as a colony owned by the player. A newly produced ship cannot be moved until the following turn. All ships may be moved once per turn. All military ships may attack once per turn.

4.1 Small ships

• Cargo (civilian unit)

  A cargo ship is not a military ship, so it is not equipped for combat, but it has solid armour to better withstand ambushes by opponents. It is essential for colonizing planets, extracting resources exclusively from asteroids and for trading with the Space Port and with other players. A cargo ship may move a maximum of 3 parsecs, has no attack bonus but has a +1 bonus in defence. Normally it cannot attack, only counter-attack, and has a firing range of 1. A cargo ship may be converted into a colony at the price of 2 Energy resources. Cost: 1 Energy resource and 2 Titanium resources.

• Fighter (military unit)

  The fighter is the backbone of the armies of all Factions and is the cheapest combat vessel. It has a +1 bonus in attack and a firing range of 1, but has no defence bonus, and its movement capacity is reduced (it may move a maximum of 2 parsecs). Cost: 1 Energy resource, 1 Titanium resource and 1 Gold resource.

4.2 Large ships

• Cruiser (military unit)

  A cruiser, also known as a star battleship, is the most expensive vessel of all, but also the most powerful. It is equipped with solid armour and powerful cannons, has a firing range of 2, a +2 bonus in both attack and defence, and may move a maximum of 5 parsecs. Cost: 4 Titanium resources, 2 Energy resources and 2 Gold resources.

• Armoured transport (military unit)

  An armoured transport allows a player to carry up to 2 small ships at a time and to travel long distances. Its attack and defence capabilities are medium: it has a +1 bonus in attack, a +1 bonus in defence, a firing range of 1, and may move a maximum of 10 parsecs.

  To load the (small) units it intends to carry, they must arrive, using their own movement capacity, on the same hex as the destination transport. A transported ship cannot be unloaded onto the same hex as the armoured transport, but onto an adjacent free hex, only if available. A ship that is loaded onto an armoured transport cannot be unloaded in the same turn, but only from the following turn onwards.

  Fighters may be built, at an additional cost of 1 Gold, directly on board this vessel. When an armoured transport is on the same hex as a colony, whether it was just built or not, small ships (fighters and cargo ships) may be built directly on board it without any additional cost.

  When an armoured transport carries cargo ships and is on an asteroid, these may normally extract resources from it without disembarking from the transport.

  If an armoured transport carries fighters, it gains a +1 attack bonus for each of them.

  If an armoured transport carries ships and loses a battle, instead of being destroyed it loses directly one of the units on board, chosen by the owning player. If it is hit by an Event card, the units inside it also suffer its effects. Cost: 2 Titanium resources, 3 Energy resources and 2 Gold resources.

4.3 The colony (civilian unit)

The colony is the only structure in the game and it is indispensable: it is thanks to it that players can extract from planets the resources needed to build their fleets. Once built on a planet, a colony can no longer be moved. The colony has a limited firepower, usable only for defensive purposes, which gives no attack bonus; its firing range is 1 and it is protected by heavy armour which gives it a +2 bonus in defence.

If the colonies of the same Faction are on adjacent hexes of the same planet, they must be considered a single structure and their defence bonuses are added together (for example, if on one planet a player owns 3 colonies on adjacent hexes, the total defence bonus of those colonies is +6). If a player owns more than two adjacent colonies and the central one is destroyed, the cumulative defence bonus is lost, since the remaining colonies are no longer connected.

Cost: 2 Titanium resources and 2 Energy resources.

4.4 Positioning

Newly produced units must necessarily be placed on the board (on the same hex as one of the player's own colonies) at the moment of purchase. On the same hex occupied by a colony, at most two small ships (belonging to the same player) or one large ship may stay: if a player wishes to position, or produce, other ships on a colony, he must necessarily move the ships present on the hex to make room for the new ones. If a player is already using on the board the maximum number of any type of unit, he may not build further units of that type.

All information about the characteristics of the colony and of the ships is shown on the technical sheets (fig. 1) contained in the game box and may be consulted at any time.

(Fig. 1: technical sheet.)

5. Setup

5.1 Phase one

The number of modules forming the board varies according to the number of participants, as follows:

• In a 2-player game the board is composed of 5 rectangular modules plus the Space Port module (for a total of 6 modules, arranged in a 3x2 grid).
• In a 3- or 4-player game the board is composed of 11 rectangular modules plus the Space Port module (for a total of 12 modules, arranged in a 3x4 grid).

The Space Port module must necessarily be included among the various modules randomly chosen to make up the game board.

5.2 Phase two

• Shuffle the board modules (including the Space Port module) and lay them out in the same orientation, in random order, on the table, creating in this way the layout of a random map of the galaxy (of rectangular shape) on which the game will take place.
• Divide the Resource cards into 3 different decks (Titanium deck, Gold deck and Energy deck); each deck must be placed on the table face up, so as to show which type of resource it provides.
• Shuffle the Event deck and place it beside the Resource decks, face up, so that it shows the above-mentioned writing. (The printed bullet refers to "the above writing"; the nearest caption on the setup page is "The Space Port module", beside the illustration of the Space Port.)
• Each player chooses in turn the colour of the units he will use during the game and takes the die of the corresponding colour.
• Each player takes two colonies, two cargo ships and one technical sheet, which summarizes the costs and characteristics of the units.
• Each player rolls the die of his own colour; the player who obtains the highest score plays first, and the others follow in CLOCKWISE order. In case of a tie, the players who obtained the same score roll again to break the tie.

Note: To obtain a more balanced game map, the players may, by mutual agreement, decide to place the Space Port module at a central point of the board.

6. The Cards

6.1 Faction cards

A Faction card gives each participant distinctive features, offensive and defensive advantages and disadvantages, or specific abilities in commercial dealings, and allows players to try different strategies in every new game.

6.2 Event cards

An Event card may be purchased at the end of your own turn by paying 2 Gold resources, and may be used only from the following turn. In addition to providing players with temporary or permanent bonuses and extra units, it may trigger events that could change the course of the game.

Event cards allow unconventional manoeuvres that the player may carry out during his own turn and/or during the turn of an opponent, or a battle between units (if specified on the card).

Event cards are divided into 4 categories, each of which is marked by a symbol on the front, indicating which type of event the card belongs to:

• Natural Events: events linked to natural factors.
• Strategic Events: events linked to human control.
• Bonus Events: the player receives colonies, ships, resources, etc. free of charge.
• Permanent Events: the extraction of resources, or the technology of one or more types of ship, is improved for the rest of the game.

The deck contains cards that are more or less rare or unique; the most powerful ones are harder to find, since the deck contains at most one of each of them, while those with the least significant effects are the most common: a deck may include up to 4 copies of them.

To clearly indicate their rarity to the player, Event cards are marked with one of the following colours: Purple, Red, Yellow, Green, used as the frame of the Event symbol that appears next to the card title.

Once purchased, Event cards (fig. 2) may be resold to the Space Port but not to other players (see paragraph 9.); in any case they can never be resold once they have been played.

The sale value of an Event card is determined by its rarity:

• Purple card: unique, worth 4 Gold.
• Red card: rare, worth 3 Gold.
• Yellow card: uncommon, worth 2 Gold.
• Green card: common, worth 1 Gold.

(Fig. 2: anatomy of an Event card, showing the type of event, the name of the card, the set it belongs to, the colour of its rarity, the duration of the event (supported by the Event token, fig. 3) and the characteristics of the event.)

There is no limit to the use of Event cards: each player may use in attack or in defence as many Event cards as he considers appropriate, to launch a devastating attack or to reverse the outcome of a battle. Event cards are usually used during one's own turn or during the turn of an attacker to defend oneself but, in some cases (only if specified on the card in question), they may also be used during the turn of any opponent, without necessarily having been attacked. During a battle between units, Event cards do not necessarily have to be used before the die is rolled; they may also be used afterwards, by both the attacker and the defender, to reverse the fortunes of the ongoing clash.

The effects of some types of Event cards may last for several turns and may affect the entire board, a single module, or only one hex. When this happens, the Event card specifies where the card acts and the duration of its effects. If the card has effect on an entire board module, the player must place an Event token (fig. 3) on a hex that contains no ship. If the card has effect on a single hex occupied by one or more units, the token must be placed under the units in question. When the effects of the card end, the player must put the card at the bottom of the Event deck and also remove from the board the Event token associated with it. If a player obtains an Event card that provides a warship, it may not be used before the Arms Race has been started (page 14).

6.3 Resource cards

Resource cards (fig. 4) are indispensable for purchasing colonies, all types of ships, Event cards and for trading with other players or with the Space Port. Details on how to acquire these resources are described in paragraph 8. (How to earn resources).

(Fig. 4: Resource cards.)

7. Colonization of the Galaxy

As already specified at the beginning of the previous paragraph, at the start of the game the players roll the die to establish who will be the first player. The player with the highest number begins first; the others follow in clockwise order. The players each draw at random one card from the Faction deck and show its characteristics to everyone. This card remains visible to all for the rest of the game.

Note: For the first games the Factionless variant (page 20) is recommended.

7.1 Settlement

The players roll the die to establish on which planets to land. It is not possible to build a colony on asteroids. According to the result obtained, they place a colony and a cargo ship on one of the hexes belonging to a planet marked with the number corresponding to the die result. This operation is repeated for two rounds, until each player has placed at least one colony and two cargo ships on the game board. The first round proceeds clockwise, from the first to the last player; the second proceeds counter-clockwise, from the last to the first player.

If a player rolls the die and the result corresponds to a number not present on the board, to an asteroid, or to a planet already occupied by the colony of another player, the situation is resolved in one of the following ways:

• If this situation occurs during the first round, the player in question must roll the die again until he obtains a result corresponding to a planet free of the settlements of other players.
• If this situation occurs during the second round, the player may roll only once more: if he does not obtain an available number as a result, he places the second cargo ship on the hex of the first colony. The second colony remains in his possession for the next phase (see paragraph 7.2).
• If a player rolls the die and the result corresponds to the number of a planet that he himself has previously colonized, and there are no other planets with the same number free of opposing settlements, he must necessarily place his second colony and his second cargo ship on that planet as well.

7.2 Expansion

From now on the player is free to colonize, in subsequent turns, any planet by means of a cargo ship, also using the colony he was not able to place in the previous round and by buying new ones.

During his own turn, players may send a cargo ship to a planet, the only ship able to build colonies. When a player has a cargo ship on one of the hexagonal spaces that are part of a planet, by paying a predetermined quantity of resources he may build a new colony on the hex below it, provided that it is free.

The preparation phase is now complete: all players take 3 Resource cards of their choice and one Event card from the top of the deck, starting from the first player in turn order.

The first player begins the game by rolling the 8-sided die to acquire resources (see paragraph 8.).

Movement, combat and the use of Event cards may be carried out by the player in the order he wishes.

Any purchases of ships, colonies or Event cards may be made only at the end of one's own turn. A purchase (even of a single element) therefore determines the end of one's own turn.

8. How to Earn Resources

At the start of the turn, first roll the 8-sided die. On all planets and asteroids a number from 1 to 8 appears (fig. 5): the result of the die roll determines from which planets and asteroids all players simultaneously extract resources in that turn.

Example of resource extraction:

1. The player whose turn it is rolls the die and obtains a 6.
2. All players check which planets and asteroids are marked with the number 6.
3. If they own a colony on a planet, or a cargo ship on an asteroid, marked with the number 6, they take, for each colony or cargo ship in question, one resource corresponding to that number.
4. In the case of planets, if a player has more colonies on the same planet, he multiplies the extraction of materials by the total number of colonies he owns on that planet.
5. In the case of asteroids, if a player has (at most) 2 cargo ships on an asteroid, he multiplies the extraction of the resource on it by two.
6. If the number is not present on the board, the player who rolled the die obtains one resource of his choice.

(Fig. 5: planets and asteroids with their numbers.)

Recovering resources in battles between units

Resources may also be gained by destroying the units of opponents in combat. Each time a player destroys an opposing unit, he recovers from its wreckage the resources used to build it. If the destroyed unit belongs to a Faction with increased or reduced costs, the resources recovered are determined by the characteristics of the Faction.

8.1 Planet structure

The same resources may be found on a planet as on an asteroid; the fundamental differences between the two celestial bodies are the following:

• The planet is made up of seven hexagonal spaces and allows the extraction of two different resources (Titanium and Gold / Titanium and Energy / Gold and Energy).
• On each hex a colony may be built, so on each planet a maximum of 7 colonies may be built.
• When one or more players have built one or more colonies on a planet, they extract a quantity of resources equal to the number of colonies built on it. For example, if a player owns two colonies on a planet, each time the number corresponding to that planet comes up, he may choose to extract two materials of the same type or two different ones among the materials present on the planet.

8.2 Asteroids

An asteroid is a single hexagonal space that provides only one type of resource; it is not possible to build a colony on an asteroid, but it is possible to extract resources from it, with a maximum of 2 cargo ships of the same Faction, to double the profit. As long as a player keeps his cargo ships on the hex of an asteroid, each time the number of that asteroid comes up, the player gains resources.

9. Exchange of Resources

9.1 Exchange between players

For an exchange between players, the player whose turn it is must bring one of his own cargo ships to a hex adjacent to the hex where the cargo ship of the player with whom he wishes to trade is located: only in this way is it possible to begin negotiations for one or more exchanges of resources. Players may also trade with each other on planets with neighbouring colonies. Cargo ships and colonies, if adjacent, may also carry out commercial exchanges. Between players, always through neighbouring cargo ships and colonies, it is permitted to exchange only Resource cards (Gold, Energy, Titanium).

9.2 Exchange with the Space Port

If players cannot or do not wish to exchange resources with each other, they may instead make exchanges with the Space Port.

Here the player, in exchange for 3 resources of any kind, receives one resource that he needs (for example, 2 GOLD and 1 ENERGY = 1 TITANIUM). To make exchanges with the Port, a player must dock his cargo ship in one of the 6 docking areas (fig. 6) of the Space Port.

Players docked at the Port (up to 6) may trade with each other even if they are not in adjacent positions.

Cargo ships docked in one of the six spaces of the Space Port cannot be attacked directly by military ships, but they will nevertheless suffer the effects of any Event cards.

(Fig. 6: the six docking areas of the Space Port.)

10. Actions and Movement of Ships

During his own turn, each player may carry out a series of actions and movements in the order he prefers. He ends his actions (of whatever kind) when he makes one or more purchases, when he decides to stop, or when he no longer has any way of carrying out others. During his own turn, a player may move all of his ships present on the board in the direction he wishes. The extent of their movement depends on the characteristics of the type of ship used in the action.

The maximum movement of a ship is expressed in parsecs, a unit of length used in astronomy to measure stellar distances. In this game one parsec corresponds to one hex. Therefore, if a ship's movement characteristic is 5 parsecs, that ship may move on the board in any direction for a maximum of 5 hexes.

It is not possible to stop on a space already occupied by a ship of another player, nor to pass over it, unless the transit is explicitly permitted by the owner of the ship occupying that space.

Only a maximum of two small units, such as a cargo ship and a fighter, two cargo ships or two fighters, may share the same space. Both the cruiser and the armoured transport are large ships and therefore alone occupy an entire hex (fig. 7).

(Fig. 7: ships occupying hexes.)

When a ship is located on a hex straddling two board modules, it is as if it were present on both modules at the same time. Therefore if a player uses an Event card that involves one of the two adjacent modules in its entirety, the ship in question will suffer its effects.

11. Arms Race

Players may begin to produce warships only after they have built at least 4 colonies. The first player who builds them and produces a military ship starts the arms race. From that moment on, the other players - even if they do not yet own 4 colonies - may begin to produce combat ships in turn. The arms race also starts when one of the players, owning at least 4 colonies, uses an Event card that allows him to build a warship free of charge.

12. Combat

In most cases, the ships of two Factions may face each other when they are located on two adjacent spaces (fig. 8).

(Fig. 8: adjacent ships in combat.)

If you want to attack a more distant enemy ship, you may carry out a long-range attack, but only ships with a firing range equal to or greater than the distance of the target may attack in this way (fig. 9). The higher the attack bonus of the ship used in the combat, the greater the chances of destroying an opposing unit. The possible lines of attack pass both through the hexes of the board, if these are arranged along the same row or along the lines of adjacency of the hexes (fig. 9).

(Fig. 9: lines of attack for long-range combat.)

Combat develops into attack and defence, and provides for the possibility of counter-attacks and evasive manoeuvres. During his own turn, a player may decide to attack, with his military ships, the units of one or more opponents that are within firing range of his combat ships.

Once within firing range, before rolling the die, the attacker declares to the opponent the chosen attack manoeuvre, the attacking unit and the target unit.

12.1 Attack/defence

The attacker rolls the die and adds the result to the attack bonus of his ship engaged in the combat, also making use of any Event cards in his possession. The player being attacked rolls the die and adds the result to the defence bonus of his ship engaged in the combat, also making use of any Event cards in his possession.

If the attacker's roll result - added to any ship bonuses and/or any Event cards - is higher than that of the defender, the attacking player wins the clash and the opponent loses his ship.

If conversely the attacker's roll result - added to any ship bonuses and/or any Event cards - is equal to or lower than that of the defender, the attacker loses the clash and the opponent may:

• Begin the counter-attack phase;
• Carry out an evasive manoeuvre if possible.

12.2 Counter-attack or evasive manoeuvre

Counter-attack: the player who was previously on defence now counter-attacks, rolls the 8-sided die and adds to the result the attack bonus of his ship engaged in the combat, also making use of any Event cards in his possession.

The player who is now on defence rolls the 8-sided die and adds the result to the defence bonus of his ship engaged in the combat, also making use of any Event cards in his possession.

If the roll result of the counter-attacker - added to any ship bonuses and/or any Event cards - is higher than that of the defender, the counter-attacker wins the clash and the opponent loses his ship. If the roll result of the counter-attacker - added to any ship bonuses and/or any Event cards - is equal to or lower than that of the defender, the counter-attacker loses the clash and the opponent may begin a new counter-attack phase or carry out an evasive manoeuvre.

Evasive manoeuvre: the evasive manoeuvre consists of escaping from the combat by moving away with the ship, according to its movement characteristic and/or using any Event cards.

If the attacker has surrounded the defender, occupying all six spaces around it, the latter may not carry out an evasive manoeuvre, unless it has Event cards that allow it to escape. Therefore the only option left to it is to counter-attack. If it is subject to a long-range attack, the defender may carry out an evasive manoeuvre to leave the firing range of the opposing ship. If the evasive manoeuvre is not sufficient to get out of the firing range of one or more attacking ships, these may counter-attack it again.

This alternation of actions and reactions may continue until one of the two ships involved in the clash is destroyed or retreats (by means of an evasive manoeuvre).

12.3 Long-range attack

A long-range attack is carried out when striking a target located at a firing range equal to or greater than 2 parsecs (hexes). For example: if a ship with firing range 2 is 2 hexes away from its target, that ship may attack, adding the value of its attack bonus to the result of the rolled die.

When a ship suffers a long-range attack and manages to defend itself, it may counter-attack. To do so it must have a firing range equal to or greater than the distance of the target; otherwise it will not be possible for it to counter-attack and it must carry out an evasive manoeuvre. If the evasive manoeuvre is not sufficient to get out of the firing range of the opposing ship, the latter may attack it again.

When a colony suffers a long-range attack and manages to defend itself, it cannot carry out an evasive manoeuvre or counter-attack at long range, and the clash ends.

It is possible to temporarily extend the firing range of one's own units through the use of certain Event cards that increase firing range.

12.4 Coordinated attack

A player may carry out attacks against the same target with several ships at the same time.

If an attacker manages to position two or more combat ships around an adjacent hex occupied by one or more enemy ships, it may strike one of them with a single attack, adding to the die roll the attack bonus of all the ships involved in the combat (fig. 10), thus increasing the chances of winning the clash.

(Fig. 10: coordinated attack.)

The player may also have ships with different firing ranges take part in a clash, provided that those ships are able to reach the same target. During the same attack it is possible to use both combat ships adjacent to the target and more distant ships able to launch a long-range attack (fig. 11), applying the rules above as appropriate. If the attacked ship suffers a coordinated attack by enemy ships with different firing ranges, once it has defended itself it may counter-attack only one of the opposing ships, provided that this is within sufficient range (firing range).

(Fig. 11: coordinated attack with ships of different firing ranges.)

If several ships are present on the defence, only those with a firing range sufficient to reach the enemy ships that took part in the attack may take part in the counter-attack. As shown in the image (fig. 12), the player on defence now counter-attacks and must choose against which ship to direct the fire of his ships:

A) In this case the player counter-attacking with cruiser "A" may attack only one of the two opposing ships, in order to exploit the attack bonus of cruiser "B". Also in this case, if the counter-attacking player wishes to attack fighter "D", he may do so only with cruiser "A". If he decides to fight against cruiser "C", the counter-attacking player may use both cruisers "A" and "B".

(Fig. 12: counter-attack with several ships.)

B) Alternatively, the counter-attacking player may choose to make separate attacks, with his ships, against the ships that attacked him, but in this way he may not add the attack bonus, because he is not concentrating fire on a single target. Therefore, for each of these ships one attack roll and one defence roll will be made.

Unlike the attack bonus, the defence capability of ships cannot be added to that of other ships, and it may not be shared in any case.

In every combat against several units that share the same hex, for example a cargo ship, a fighter and a colony, the player who loses the clash chooses which of his units has fallen in battle and removes it from the board.

Cargo ships may never attack, unless an Event card allows it, and may be involved in a combat only if attacked directly.

When the clash ends with the destruction of a ship of one of the two players, the player who lost the combat, if he had military ships supporting him during the clash, may continue the counter-attack, or must carry out an evasive manoeuvre for each ship involved in the combat, thereby suffering a series of counter-attacks by the opponent (see paragraph 12.5). This situation may be repeated until one of the two fleets is destroyed or retreats by means of an evasive manoeuvre.

12.5 Evasive manoeuvres of several ships in a clash

In the case of an evasive manoeuvre involving several ships, this is carried out as follows:

A) If the ships of the fleet share the same hex, for example in the case of two small ships, the player must choose which ship to move with the evasive manoeuvre, and the other one that remains must necessarily suffer an attack by the opponent, if the firing range of the opposing units allows it.

B) If the ships of the fleet are arranged on different hexes, for example a cruiser and a fighter, the player must choose which ship to move with the evasive manoeuvre.

The ships that took part in the attack and that remain in their hex will be subject to a further counter-attack. This scheme repeats until the end of the clash.

12.6 Attack with allied support

Players may also agree to conduct one or more attacks with joint forces, for strategic convenience or for a payment in resources. This payment will be agreed between the parties before the attack is carried out.

A player who is about to undertake a battle against another opponent may, if he deems it appropriate, request the assistance of other players with military ships able to reach the target of the player with their firing range. The player whose turn it is then takes control of the allied ships and uses them to carry out the attack. He may exploit only their firing range and attack bonus (therefore not their movement), and only against the single declared target.

The same criterion applies to the counter-attack. Therefore, a player in the counter-attack phase may request the support of other players, as shown in the following images. In the example (fig. 13), player "A" suffers the attack of player "B" and wins the clash. In the counter-attack (fig. 14) he requests the support of player "C" and uses its firepower to attack the cruiser of player "B".

(Fig. 13 and fig. 14: allied support in attack and in counter-attack.)

12.7 End of the combat phase

The combat may end with three different outcomes:

1. The attacker destroys the opposing fleet.
2. The defender destroys the opposing fleet.
3. One of the two players withdraws from the clash by means of an evasive manoeuvre.

13. Elimination of a Player

When a player eliminates an opponent from the game, that is, the opponent no longer has any ship or colony on the board, he receives all the resources and any Event cards of the defeated player, and may also use the characteristics of the Faction card of the defeated player, in addition to his own.

14. Variants of the Game

14.1 Timed variant

It is possible to play a timed game, in which the players agree on the length of the game. If at the end of the time no one has achieved economic or military victory, the points are counted and the player with the highest score is declared the winner:

• Each resource in hand (not played) is worth one point.
• Each unplayed Event card, as well as each played Permanent Event card, provides a number of points depending on its rarity: Green = 1 point; Yellow = 2 points; Red = 3 points; Purple = 4 points.
• Each unit on the board provides a fixed number of points. The base value of the units, for the purpose of counting points, is as follows: the colony is worth 4 points, the cargo ship 3 points, the fighter 3 points, the armoured transport 6 points and the cruiser 8 points.

Note: Depending on the Faction to which they belong, the values above may vary: for example the Martian Movement (Movimento Marziano) has an additional cost of 1 extra Energy in the production of warships, so each of them will be worth one point more in the count; in this case the fighter is worth 4 points, the armoured transport 7 points and the cruiser 9 points.

14.2 Alliance variant

It is possible to play a game in teams composed of several Factions/players, who will share victory or defeat. This mode may also be played on a timed basis and is recommended when the number of participants is even: for example, 4 players will form two teams of two players, 6 players will form two teams of 3 or three teams of 2.

14.3 Absolute victory variant

The players may decide to play a game in which, to win, they must simultaneously achieve, during their own turn, both military and economic victory. Note: In this mode, the length of the game may even double.

14.4 Factionless variant

Alternatively, all game modes, including the standard mode, may be played without the use of Faction cards. In this way all players may take part in the game without any advantage or disadvantage deriving from them.

14.5 Simplified combat variant

In this mode, when 2 or more players enter into combat, with one or more units, the clash ends automatically with the destruction or evasion of only one of these. If possible, and if the same circumstances exist, the combat may continue in subsequent turns.

14.6 Further game variants

The different game variants may be combined with each other at the discretion of the players. For example, the Timed variant may be played without Factions or in the Alliances mode.